Last night Pete Hammond briefly mentioned Gun Shy, my favorite Sandra Bullock-produced film of all time, and then dropped it. Bullock said nothing (i.e., let’s move on), and had little to add when I mentioned it at the after-party. “Some of us really loved that film,” I said. “Elvis Mitchell did handstands over it in his N.Y. Times review.” This is how good but under-appreciated movies die on Netflix — even their producers are ready to sweep them under the rug.
There’s always a vague sense of tredipation in the Arlington Theatre press seat area before celebrity interviews begin. After doing their red-carpet photography, the swaggering paparazzi stroll down the aisle and look to occupy the front-row seating that’s right in front of the stage. This sometimes includes the seat I’m sitting in. Every now and then one will look at me with my Canon S515 and my Canon Elph around my neck and say, “Are you holding this for someone?” (Translation: “Are you some kind of dilletante photographer? May I please sit there? I matter more than you.”) I always say to them, “I’m just sitting here, bro…I’m press like you.” (Translation: “Nice try, asshole.”)
On-stage celebrity interviews at the Santa Barbara Film Festival are always smooth and briskly paced (i.e., once the celebrity takes the stage) and professionally presented and all. But they always proceed in the same fashion. This is an okay thing — most of us find comfort in a certain amount of repetition and familiarity — but it would be nice if someone came along and said, “This is working okay but let’s come up with a looser approach.” I don’t know what I’m talking about but it might be cool if the audience could ask questions, or if the celebrity walked into the audience area with a mike and roamed around as ne/she speaks to different folks. Kind of a David Letterman-type deal.
My son Jett tells me that my disinclination to edit results in some of my video clips being trite. I don’t have the extra hour or two to slick these things up. I try to edit in the camera as it’s happennig.
